Subscription-Based $99 Xbox 360 May Go Global

The $99 subscription-based Xbox 360 package that is currently available exclusively in the US may be branching out beyond North American borders. Xbox Europe head Chris Lewis told VG247that Microsoft is looking closely at how well consumers are responding in the states as an indicator of whether or not they should expand the 2-year plan across the globe.

“We’ll watch it with interest, then we’ll decide if it makes sense for us to expand more fully in North America, globally or by region. It’ll be very interesting to see how it works out. We listen to what the consumers are asking for and we experiment with different propositions in different markets," Lewis said.

He went on to add that: “There are certain things we’ve done in Europe over the years, for example; a lot of our soft and hard bundling initiatives have ended up becoming global initiatives based on consumption patterns. The one you describe there, we’ll similarly track that and see how that goes down. I think it’ll be very popular.”

The subscription-based plan for purchasing an Xbox 360 kicked off this May, being sold exclusively at Microsoft stores. The company has since expanded its efforts to bring the package to Best Buy and GameStop locations as well. For $99, subscribers get a 4GB Xbox 360, a Kinect, two years of Xbox Live, and the lovely monthly fee of $14.99.

Is this something that you think will catch on to the point that Microsoft offers it worldwide? Could this be an indication of what they plan to do with their next-gen hardware? Let us know what you think in the comments below.